New Beginnings
by Nueemann
Summary: An alternate ending to Blood Promise is the prologue, "Dimitri gave Rose the ultimate choice, she chose right". Now, Dimitri and Rose want revenge on the royal families, and they won't stop untill they get it. My first Fanfic, Remember to R&R!
1. Foreword

**Foreword**

**DISCLAIMER - **I do not own the Vampire academy series or any of the characters associated with them. Those are owned by Richelle Mead.

First off, this is my first fanfic, or first real writing I guess, aside from school stuff. I am a very big fan of Richelle Mead's VA series, and a lot of the fanfiction for it on the site. So let me say I am happy to contribute.

Second, I feel that more often than not, stories are always required by some arbitrary rule to have a stereotypical "Happy" ending, where life is great and every reader can leave the books with some sense of joy. I, however, really wish someone would write just one story where the ending isn't so "happy". Where in the core of it all, evil has it's way and peace and love are metaphorically slaughtered by it. I am sorry if no one around here agrees with me on this concept, but I will feel the VA series is a great one to write a story based on this premise.

Furthermore, I have always thought that it would be cool if the Moroi/Dhampirs and Strigoi had armies, and got into a war with each other. I really like the idea of the Moroi losing a sort of one sided war becasue of them hanging on to their outdated traditions.

Finally, there may be some things about the story that you may not like, but I cannot really change these, as I don't like changing my story for the sake of pleasing others. I am sorry for any grammar errors, as I am not the best writer ever. But I will do my best, and I hope everyone likes my story!

P.S. - I write most of my chapters quickly, so updates will come as soon as the consensus says my last chapter was good! This way, I know if there is anything to fix in the previous chapter first, grammar wise, and because if no one likes this, I may stop writing it.


	2. Chapter One: A Fateful Choice

**One - A Fateful Choice**

This is more of a prologue chapter.

I lay there in the bed, waiting for Dimitri to let his guard down so I could stab him with the makeshift wooden stake I had hidden in my pocket, he continued his rant on how letting him awaken me would be the greatest decision I ever made. I decided to ask him once more, "Dimitri, why do you want me so badly?". His response was fairly quick, and it was also in a quiet and fairly soft tone of voice, "Because I've always wanted you, I love you now and always will." I decided right then and there that escaping was a very stupid idea, and if I was going to do anything, I may as well let him awaken me and see what it was like, hell, if I still wanted to kill myself, I could always walk into the sun or something afterwards. "Do it", I said in a forceful voice, but there was also a tone of fear to my voice, and Dimitri must have picked up on it because he said back, "Don't worry Rose, it won't hurt, I promise you, just lay back and relax."

He then leaned down and bit into the very tender skin of my neck, drawing blood and sucking dry what little I had left in my body. Then, as I started to fall into a deep, blissful sleep from the blood loss, he used one of his fangs to tear a small gash into his wrist, and let the blood flow freely into my mouth. Most people would probably think it would taste horrible, but it didn't, in fact, it tasted fairly sweet and as I drank, I suddenly felt the power of the dark magic bound to Dimitri's blood giving my body new strength, I began to feel stronger that I ever did before. I then fell into a deep sleep as Dimitri whispered to me, "Enjoy the slumber, my sweet Roza, it is the last sleep you will ever have."


	3. Chapter Two: The Last Dream

**Two - The Last Dream**

By some twist of fate, during this sleep, Adrian visited my dream. This time, the location we were in, well, wasn't his choice, it was mine. We were in the garden at Galina's estate. It was summer, and most of the plants were growing, giving a beautiful look to the house. "Well, little dhampir, I have returned, but thankfully for you, it is only for the sake of Lissa.", he was speaking in a loud, clear voice, because he didn't see me and he wanted to know I heard him. I was hiding in the shadows cast by the nearby house and I spoke back, "Adrian, this is the worst time you could have chosen to visit me, but it is the last time you will see me, I assure you of that." I saw him, thaks to my very superior eyesight, and he looked worried and confused until he understood what I had said, "You are going to kill yourself, or do you have a guarantee that you are going to die.", he said back. "Well, technically, I'm already dead.", I replied back with a hint of smugness to my voice. "So what, I can visit the dreams of the dead, or can I assume you are actually haunting me?", he replied jokingly. "You want to see me?", I said back to him, trying to make him forget about my already being dead comment, "As you wish." I walked out of the shadow but made sure he wouldn't be able to see how pale my skin was, and I kept my distance so he couldn't notice the red ring around my eyes.

"You seem, different. I'm not sure how to put it, but you look more at peace then you did the last time I saw you.", he replied as eyes squinted to look me over from head to toe. As he took a step towards me, I said very firmly, "Take one more step, and you lose your pretty boy looks." He looked very confused now, and a little scared, and I think he was starting to wonder where on earth we were in the dream. "Do you have any idea where this is?" he asked as he looked in awe at the majesty of the mansion. "Yes", I replied, "This is where my waking self is right now." Now, he looked very shocked and still somewhat confused, "Where exactly are you?", he asked, and I was more than happy to tell him now, "Outside Novosibrisk, in Siberia.". "Ahh, now it all makes sense", he said in an understanding voice, "After all, Belikov was from Siberia, wasn't he?" "Yes", I told him, "And now I think I am going to stay here, tell Lissa, well, I'm sorry for leaving her, and that will try to get back to you someday.", this was a lie, I wasn't even remotely sorry, but knowing Adrian, he would want to know exactly where I was so that he and Lissa could try and get out here and convince me to return. Luckily, that was exactly what I wanted. "Where are you in the city, Rose?", he asked, perfect, "I will call you sometime and let you know, but for now, I have to leave." I was preparing to force myself out of the dream when suddenly, I just popped out of it with no effort. I had somehow just thought of leaving the dream and it happened, this was interesting.


	4. Chapter Three: Hunger

**As you guys may notice, some chapters are a lot shorter than others, and some have very little dialogue. This is because some times, I feel dialogue isn't necessary. Also, some chapters have very little detail about events, this is because it would substantially slow down my writing speed. Anyway, hope you enjoy the new chapter!  
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**Three - Hunger**

I awoke to find myself in another room of the mansion, and I was happy for it, because I didn't like the prison much. I was in a bed as comfortable as the one that was in my prison earlier, and as I got up, I saw there were no windows. When I got out of the bed and walked to and opened the door on the other side of the room I found myself face to face with Nathan. He didn't look very happy to see me and when I started to walk though the door, he stopped me and said "Hold it, Belikov want's you to stay here until he gets back." I stared at him and asked in a cold voice I hardly recognized as my own, "Why, am I at least allowed to go for a walk?" He looked at me, probably having a hard time imagining me as a Strigoi, and said, "Belikov wants to show you around the place, and he doesn't trust anyone else to do it. He should be back fairly soon, after all, it's nearly sunup.", then with a smile on his face and some joy in his voice he muttered, "Or maybe he'll stay out too long and burn up." Finally, after about 20 minutes of laying in the bed, Dimitri came in to get me. He took a quick look at me and said "You need to feed, you haven't had any blood at all." I knew he was right, and I was feeling a little sick, but I also had this growing hunger, not just in my stomach, but in my mind too. It was always there, but now it was a deciding factor in my actions, it was a hunger for blood. "When do we hunt?", I asked with a bit of anticipation showing in my voice. He smiled and replied, "Tonight, sweet Roza, tonight."

**Looks like Rose is starting to enjoy this! I know that chapter was short, the next one might be too, but I promise to make them longer after that!  
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**-Nueemann**

**P.S. - I know some of are probably expecting Rose and Dimitri to redeem themselves sometime, but they won't. They are going to be smarter, but just as cruel as every other Strigoi in the series. And Galina will get what is coming to her, I haven't mentioned her yet, but don't even worry about her when I do.  
**


	5. Chapter Four: Hunting

**Four - Hunting**

Throughout the day, Dimitri taught me to use the immense strength and speed being awakened had brought, and combine it with my training. I also learned a few easy techniques for snapping a guardians neck. Most importantly, he taught me to use my newly gained compulsion, this was very important as it allowed me to effortlessly take prey into a nearby allyway to feed on them. Later that night, we went into Novosibrisk. I was told the best place to get humans was at the nightclubs, becasuse you could lead one into a corner and compel them really easily. I was suprised how much like sheep they were. Later that night, I had my first prey, he was a young guy, maybe 20-23 years old. He started to lead me on, and when he tried to take me outside, I compelled him into the ally next to the club. That was when I pushed him down, he was taller than me, and bit into his kneck. It was almost as exciting as when I had sex with Dimitri, no joke. It tasted so sweet, and very delicious. It was everything Dimitri had said it was. When he was drained, I felt stronger, no doubt since I had just fed. At that moment, I was jumped by four dhampirs. I recognized one of them immediatly as Denis. He was an unpromised one that I had been hunting with before I was awakened. Denis recognized me and hesitated slightly, "Rose, is that you?", he said shakily. The hesitation helped me a lot, and I decided to teach him a lesson, so I went after him first and knocked him out, pushing him over and slamming his head into the ground. The dhampir next to him, another one I was once with named Lev, came after me. He had obviously learned from me when I had hunted with them, as he skillfully dodged every attack I made. When he finally struck out at me, I easily dodged the silver stake in his hand, grabbed the hand and crushed it, literaly crushed, I heard the bones snap as I squeezed it hard. He screamed in pain, and before he could recover, I reached out, grabbed his head, and snapped his neck. The other two unpromised ones attempted to flee, but ran straight into Dimitri, who had been waiting at the exit to the ally. He grabbed both of them and threw one to the ground for me to take. We told them to drop their stakes and they would live...for now. As Dimitri led them back to our vehicle, I picked up Denis who had been, until now, lying on the ground knocked out, and Lev, who was dead. As we drove back to the estate, I was thrilled. On my first hunting trip, I had taken on four dhampirs and won. Now, I wondered how long it would take before I would lure in Lissa and Adrian......


	6. Chapter Five: Unexpected Power

**I am usually averaging a chapter posted a day, as I can write about two a day. However, I may be delayed on the next few chapters because I am going over the next few I already wrote, since one of them in particular has a few horrible plot points I need to fix.**

**An EXTREME thanks to those of you who are reviewing the story. If you are reading this and don't usually review, do it at least once. More reviews I get, the speedier I work.**

**Anyway, enough rambling from me, I hope that everyone enjoys the next chapter!  
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**Five - Unexpected Power**

As several weeks passed by, I called Adrian a few times and assured him that I was fine, and that I would let him know where to find me soon. Dimitri and I were tasked by Galina to build a small army of Strigoi. We mostly found small Moroi families with guardians nearby, that way, we could kill the Moroi for food, and awaken the combat trained guardians. This was a good idea, as it gave us well trained foot soldiers, and blood that made us stronger. This also gave us the benifit of not alerting the Royal Court to what we were doing. However, as time went on, I discovered that, being shadow kissed before being awakened gave me some access to the dark magic in my blood. It wasn't long before we found out that all Strigoi had this access, but former Moroi and dhampirs who were shadow kissed had stronger abilities. It basically gave use of several very abuseful powers that the Moroi would have been really frightened of. This included the "Super-Compulsion" that Lissa and Adrain had, as well as the ability to strip others of the air around them, the ability to shake the earth beneath us, and even the ability to control others just by looking at them and thinking about it. Sort of like compusion, but much easier. We discovered most of these through trial and error, and now most of the Strigoi there, with my guidance, could use these powers to some extent. Eventually, I decided to tell Dimitri about the Adrian and Lissa situation. "Well, they are waiting for me to tell them where I am so they can try and come take me back", I said in my new voice. Cold, calculating, and just like Dimitri when I had first met him awakened. He then turned with a smile on his face, "Perfect. We will have to make sure they bring guardians when they come. They will be invaluble to our army. And as for Lissa, we will keep her around for a while, then she can chose an awakening, or death." I thought that while this was a bit harsh, it had to be done. God, I had changed. Normally, I would have made every attempt to keep her alive for some purpose, but no, that would never work. My new self knew that she could not be allowed to live. At least not as a Moroi, since she was the last living Dragomir. We decided that we would conduct an attack that she would surely hear about and use it as an excuse to have her bring guardians during her journy. It was easy to do, and provided us with an oppertunity to get a few unawakened guardians to use for the illusion that this was a secure home. "It's just a matter of time", I thought to myself, knowing that soon, we would have Lissa and Adrian in our hands, to do with as we pleased.


	7. Chapter Six: Planning The Trap

**This is the point in the story some people may stop being interested, because it starts leaning more into a war fiction style of story. I hope everyone keeps reading though!**

**Big thanks to my friend Mark, who is serving as my Beta Reader of sorts, seeing as I can't do it.  
**

**Six - Planning The Trap**

We had decided to get the attention of the royals at court, but on a smaller scale. So we attacked a house owned by the Zeklos family. It was a great attack as there were over eight Moroi and 10 dhampir Guardians in the house. They didn't stand a chance against the team of Strigoi we assembled. There were eight of us, including Dimitri and Me, we were all former guardians, and surprisingly, Galina had come with us to see over it, but Dimitri was in charge of everything relating to the attack. The fight lasted roughly 10-15 minutes, and everyone in the home was rounded up. There were wards in place, so we had one of the human servants from the estate come with us to stake them. Then, we let it slip to local Guardian and Moroi officials the attack had happened. They investigated, and then, we planned the trap for Lissa and Adrian, and whatever guardians they brought. We had disarmed the guardians at the Zeklos home, making sure not to kill them, since we needed one or two of them intact. We planned to have Lissa and Adrian come to the estate and meet two of the captured guardians who had easily agreed to the plan without compulsion at the gatehouse when they entered the estate. Then, the guardians would assure them the home was safe, and that they could enter. When they entered the front doors of the home, we would ambush them and overwhelm their guardians. Obviously, the door would be shut and locked as well, to make sure they stayed inside. I decided, now was the time to call Adrian, I had been given a phone by Dimitri for business use, and I used it. "Hello?", Adrian answered in his casual relaxed voice. "Adrian, do you still miss me?", I replied in the warmest, most relaxed voice I had. "Rose, my sweet, I always will miss you, from the day you left until the day I see you again, I will. Have a place for me yet?", he was relaxed at first, but I could tell he was being serious now, that was good. "96 Vladoshk Rd., outside the city of Novosibirsk, in Siberia. You already know what the house looks like.", I knew he would be eager to get here now. "Good, Rose, now I have to go find Lissa, can I call you back at this number later?", my response was a quick and simple "Sure." "Good, then I shall make arrangements, and arrive within the week, my love.", Adrian was now speaking in his relaxed tone again, and I knew he was going to be on his way soon, just like he said he would. As I flipped the phone shut, I knew, oh I just knew, that I would be seeing Lissa again soon, and she wouldn't use her Spirit abilities on me or anyone else here, I now had to see to it that she was kept in the same room I was when I was first here. Later, I went to see Denis, he was being kept in a small cell in the basement, and I had decided that he was wasting time and food. As I walked in the doorway, he simply stared in shock, and I stared right back. Eventually, he said in a shaky, but confident voice he said "I can't believe what you've become." I started to smile and all I said to him was, "You don't have to believe it, because you'll be dreaming soon enough." "What do you-", he started to say, but I cut him off when I dashed over and bit him. He was the first dhampir I had actually fed from, as most others were either awakened or used by the other men as a food source. When I felt the body go limp in my hands, I gently let it down to the bed, closed his serene looking eyes, and left the room, getting ready to imprison the person I once cared most about.


	8. Chapter Seven: A New Intrest

**I hope you all enjoy the next few chapters, as the Strigoi begin to take on a more Military-Esque organization.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, except for that which I write.**

**Special thanks to my friend Mark for Beta Reading these chapters for me.  
**

**Seven - A New Interest**

About a week after I had called Adrian, he called me, confirming that they had made arrangements for him and Lissa, along with eight guardians to arrive in one week, Christian had also insisted on coming, which was good, since I was always wondering if there was a difference in taste if you actually hated your victim first. "This ambush is important, we can't take any chances.", Dimitri was saying in a strong, loud voice. He was briefing me and the other members of the ambush team, there were six of us, all trained in advanced fighting techniques by Dimitri and Galina. "If you get pinned by a guardian, wait for him to strike, and then take his hand, and simply crush it.", this was a sound tactic, and it had worked greatly in the past against guardians. "When you see Ozera, wait for me to take care of him", I said, then began to smile "Otherwise, he'll light you up like a bonfire." I had been promised a very well earned promotion if this ambush worked, and I was looking forward to it. I had also suggested that we use, of all things, blow darts to subdue five or six of the guardians, and take out the rest in hand to hand combat. I had also discovered that the dark magic I had also included some fire based attacks, and that using them allowed me to develop an immunity to fire based magic. Because of this, I was put in charge of subduing Christian before he could try and torch the other team members. As the day neared, I had found some old books in Galina's library on old samurai history, and I had become interested in them, it was sort of like Dimitri's interest in old Western novels. I had been given a full casual wear suit that was made of a fireproof material, and had a slightly bulky chest due to the stab vest that was woven into it, this was a precaution against the silver stakes the guardians used, and the entire ambush team wore similar suits. However, Dimitri decided that we should keep my identity secret from Lissa and Adrian during the ambush. While revealing it might have made them hesitate in attacking me, it also risked the chance of someone escaping and revealing my new status to others. So I was wearing a custom designed, and tailor made, cloak with a hood, and a mask would conceal my face. The mask was also custom made, and similar to a samurai's mask, it was obviously a joke Dimitri had thought of, as he laughed when I received it. "Wow, you really think my interest in those books is this funny?", I was kind of agitated, but when he said "Well, I figure you calling me Comrade, and making fun of Westerns. You sort of asked for this.", I laughed with him. The outfit looked somewhat ridiculous, but I liked it. A sound system was also rigged up in the foyer of the house, this would allow Galina to broadcast a warning to everyone to surrender, as well as tell them that she and her followers had slaughtered the Moroi living in the home. At this point, we decided to forget having guardians at the front gate to the house, and instead we moved them to the front doors. When they came in, they would be slaughtered to avoid them telling the truth, and Galina would say that she had promised them an awakening in order to use them. "This is the perfect plan, my dear Rose. And if we pull it off, I will give you a wonderful position in my new army", Galina was finishing her speech to me, and Dimitri was watching us with what I think was some pride in his eyes. "I'm looking forward to it.", I told her, "And, I hope Dimitri also gets a great position. After all, without him, we would not have me." "Yes, I daresay that my old student has trained you very well. I believe, that maybe we should have a King and Queen of sorts, to mock the foolish Moroi traditions that we have looked down upon for so long. And, I think dear Dimitri would make a perfect King." I looked shocked, and so did Dimitri, of course, she knew why we were shocked, we didn't want anything to come between our love. "Oh, don't worry you two, it would only be for ceremonial purposes, as I'm not that attracted to Belikov." I was angry she had said that, but then I understood that, as someone who was in charge of funding our army, she couldn't relate to the man who would help lead it. "Well," I said as I got up, "Let's make the final preparations, the Princess will be with us soon." Dimitri and Galina both gave huge smiles, filled with some obvious hatred for the guardians they would soon be slaying. I just hoped that I could pull this off, as I was looking forward to my new position, whatever it was.


	9. Chapter Eight: The Trap

**Here it is! The confrontation between Adrian/Lissa/Christian and Rose/Dimitri! Hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this story so far. (New one is coming ;)**

**Special thanks to my friend Mark who Beta Reads the chapters for me.  
**

**Eight - The Trap**

**And now, for a random section in Adrian's Point of View!**

Adrian POV

I couldn't wait to see Rose, and I knew that Lissa couldn't either. She had dearly missed Rose the last few weeks, and was really looking forward to this. She hadn't been feeling very well either, and I knew she would be happy for this. I looked over to her and Christian, they were sitting in the seats opposite me in the van, and they were whispering something I couldn't quite make out. As we pulled into the driveway and drove up to the house, I recognized it from the dream. I wondered who owned it, and got even more curious when I saw what looked like guardians standing at the top of the steps. Four of the guardians travelling with us got out of the van and went up to meet the men on the steps. After a short conversation, we were told to get out and head in. When we were in the house, I saw how expensive the items inside were, and just as one of our guardians asked what family they were guarding, the doors slammed shut behind us.

**Back to Rose! I don't think I will switch POV often.**

Rose POV

As the doors slammed shut, I walked out from behind the pillar at the top of the stairs and stood there looking over our new visitors. There were eight guardians; five men, and three women, as well as Adrian, Lissa, and Christian. They looked shocked, and as the guardians drew their stakes, there was a soft whoosh as the blow darts were fired, and five of the guardians clutched their necks and fell over. Then, Galina's voice came ringing over the speakers on each side of me, as I pretended to be speaking, "Attention Guardians, drop your weapons. Get down on your knees and put your hands on you head, and you will not be harmed in any way. Resist, and we will gladly kill every last one of you without mercy. And we will bring grievous harm to your now sleeping comrades." As everyone else look shocked and somewhat scared, our two decoy guardians ran for a nearby room, and I heard screams, good. That was one less liability. The guardians still hadn't dropped their weapons, and the one I guessed was the leader yelled "Who in the hell do you think you are telling us what to do?" I was wearing an earpiece and microphone, and I heard a voice in it, it was Galina's. "Rose, if you wish, tell them once more to drop their weapons, if they still refuse, we will distract them, you deal with Ozera, then the guardian's leader." I smiled under my mask, and in a well disguised voice, I shouted "Drop your weapons; this is your last chance." "Like hell!", their leader shouted and proceeded to attack me. He learned the hard way that well trained Strigoi really are a bitch to kill. I grabbed his hand as he lunged, and broke it. Then, I slammed his head into the wall and he fell over. Lissa now looked genuinely scared, as did Adrian, Christian, though, created a ball of fire in his hand and threw it at me. I decided to test my powers, I created a powerful shield that deflected the fire and he fell over, apparently, I had taken my power from him. The other two guardians were quickly dispatched by Marlen and Nathan, naturally, Nathan bit his guardian as he dragged him away. Although he didn't kill him, because he knew that he would have died if he did. Then Dimitri came out of the door behind me, wearing that old long, leather coat of his, and stood next to me. "Dimitri?!?!? This was all your doing?", Lissa was shouting, both terrified and furious at the same time. "Not just mine, dear Lissa.", and as we walked down the stairs together, he nodded to me and I lowered my hood. "No, it can't be", Lissa whispered as my hair fell long, no longer being contained by the hood. "Oh, yes", I whispered back as I removed my mask. My eyes were closed, but my chalky white skin said it all. As I opened my eyes and looked into Lissa's , she had a look of true terror in them. Before she could speak, Adrian did "What the hell, Belikov? Did you want to be that cruel to us! Turning her and luring us here!" I looked at him with a smile on my face, "It was my choice, and as I always say, it's survival of the fittest, you are predator or prey." "I don't know you anymore! You are a cruel, sadistic person Rosemarie Hathaway, and I hope you die a horrible death.", Adrian was trying to be dramatic, and it was annoying the hell out of me. Finally, I looked at him and willed him to sleep, and sure enough, he collapsed on to the floor. I smiled and looked at Lissa, "You aren't the only one with powers now Liss." As Dimitri led her off to where she would be staying, Galina came down the stairs, she was carrying an oddly shaped box. She smiled and said "Well done Rose, well done. I believe you deserve your promotion more than anybody." She turned the box around and opened it, I was shocked. Inside was a sword. But not just and type of sword, and old style Japanese Katana. "Congratulations Rose. With the power vested in me by... myself," she laughed a bit, "I hereby appoint you to the newly created position of Supreme Commander of our Army. You may serve under the title of 'Lady' if you wish." I glanced from her face, to the katana, and back to her. Then, I picked up the sword, and unsheathed it. The blade was made of what looked like a highly sharpened iron, and it was dulled in colour. Instead of a traditional hilt, the hilt was shaped somewhat like a cross. Then, finally, on the hilt, was an engraving, it was in Dimitri's handwriting. "To Lady Rosemarie Hathaway. May death come swiftly and without mercy to your enemies." I sheathed the sword, attached it to the belt on my pants, and bowed to Galina. Then, a thought came to my head, "I think we should have an oath to those who swear their lives to our army, something like 'I do solemnly swear to uphold the traditions of my Lord. If I fail to do so, may I redeem myself in death quickly, so I may bring honour back to those I serve.'" A smile appeared on Galina's face, and she said "I like it, write it down, then sign and date it. We will swear everyone in tomorrow." Then, she turned and left. I had a lot to think about, my new position, my army, and the friend I had just captured.


	10. Chapter Nine: Your Choices

**Hey all, here is the new chapter, and a fair size rant.  
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**It is really great that so many people are supporting the story, I mostly started this as a vent for my anger towards the saddening ending of Shadow Kiss leading to the (In my opinion) stupid ending of Blood Promise. The Strigoi will continue their march down the path to war, and a fair number of things will happen in the next three to five chapters that will change the story.**

**I have noticed that many people are making their own versions of Spirit Bound. For anyone who doesn't know, which I guess is nobody reading this, it is released May 18, 2010  
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**I also apologize in advance if I fail to release a chapter now and then, but I devote a large portion of my spare time to video games and such, so I fail to write chapters some days.**

**To anyone who is interested in music, check out the band Sabaton some time. I know there is a fair chance some people won't like it, but I feel I should mention it here.**

**Finally, thanks to my friend Mark for Beta Reading these for me.  
**

**Sorry for the long rant, but every person has to state their opinion sometime and in some way. Here is the new chapter!  
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**Nine - Your Options...**

***In this story, "Salute" means getting down on one knee and greeting someone by saying their name, including their title if they have one. This is done to anyone in a higher position.**

After several days, all of the members of our newly made Army were sworn in. It was also decided that you would have to draw blood as you made the oath. This was done with a ceremonial dagger that had the oath etched into the blade. You also had to say your name after the 'I' at the beginning. I decided that I had better go and see our new prisoners, since I figured that they were getting anxious, in some extent, to see me. I knew where they were, since it was the same room I had been kept in when I was here, I made sure, that way they would at least be to some extent, comfortable. As I reached the room, the soldier on guard saluted, and greeted me, "Lady Hathaway, always good to see you." I responded with a my now normal voice, it was cold, calculating, and firm, "I need you to accompany me inside, to make sure they do not jump me." "Yes, my Lady, I will comply." He punched in the door code, and walked down the hall. I closed the door behind me and waited for him to open the other door. I was wearing a set of formal robes and a cloak, they were a mix of black and blood red colours, all fireproof, of course. As the inner door opened, I followed the guard in. Adrian, naturally, had been laying on the couch drinking vodka. A guard had been in earlier to see if they wanted anything, and I earlier saw a guard carrying three or four bottles of pure Russian made vodka to the room later. I saw Christian and Lissa in the bedroom, and Lissa looked likes she was crying. I saw Christian get up and head to shut the door. I went over to Adrian and he moved to sit up. I just stood there and looked into his beautiful green eyes. We sat there for a while, and I decided to break the silence, "How do you like the real Russian vodka? Too strong for you?" Amazingly, he chuckled and said "No, it helps keep me from feeling all the dark magic in this place. I think that's why Lissa is so upset. It's almost as bad as the darkness from spirit use." I decided that I knew exactly how to calm Lissa down. I ran over to the bedroom and told Christian to open the door, he yelled back "Get away from us! You've driven your best friend to madness!" I was tired of his voice already. I punched the lock on the door and it broke, when I walked in, I saw Christian ready to use his magic on me. "Don't even bother", I told him, "I'm immune to fire based magic, and these robes are fireproof." I saw him drop the fire, and sit down on the bed. Lissa was still crying, "Lissa!", I was yelling now, "Either stop crying, or I make you!" She still kept at it, so I reached over, pushed off Christian who was trying to comfort Lissa, and grabbed Lissa. She stopped crying, likely out of fear, and I whispered into her ear, "You know what, I've always wanted to repay you for the times you bit me while we were around humans. This won't be as good as your bites though, it'll be better." I then bit into her pale, tender neck. Like all Moroi, her blood was sweet, and very, very delicious. I stopped before she died, and let her down on to the bed. I turned to Christian, who looked frightened and shocked, and said, "She isn't dead, and she is gonna feel Really good for a while. You know, even though I hate you, we could always use another powerful magic user around here. All you'd have to do is take Lissa or Adrian's life. It would be easy, she is passed out, and he is drunk all the time." Christian looked disgusted, and said in a furious voice, "No. I'm not going to sell out my friends like you did. You sicken me you little son of a -." It was at that point that I unsheathed my katana, which I had nicknamed "Zasluzhennyĭ mest'"which was Russian for "Honoured Vengeance", and used it to pin Christian to the wall. "Look.", I said, "You have two days to kill Lissa or Adrian and awaken yourself. If you don't, well, I haven't had Moroi blood in a while, and I'll bet yours in exceptionally delicious." I said that part with a vicious smile on my face. I sheathed the sword and headed for the broken door. "Two days, Christian. Two days.", I said, then as I moved out I wiped the blood off my fangs and hid them behind my lips. Adrian watched that and said in a drunken tone, "You know, little dhampir, even as an eternally evil creature of the night, you are extraordinarily beautiful.", at about that point, he passed out on the couch. I left, and wondered what I was going to do, would I awaken Lissa, Adrian, or Christian? Or would they all become food for us?

**I have no clue if that Russian translation is correct, as I used Google Translate and a Cyrillic Converter to do it, so it may be incorrect.**


	11. Chapter Ten: A Difficult Decision

**I imagine some people are missing the romantic action between Dimitri and Rose, so I'm trying to bring it back.**

**Standard Disclaimer still stands: I own nothing except that which I write.**

**Thanks to Mark again for his Beta Reading.**

**I hope you continue to enjoy the story. If not, let me know in the reviews!  
**

**Ten - Difficult Decision**

A few weeks passed, and I was finally able to relax with Dimitri for the first time since I was awakened. We'd not had sex, but we would just lay there in bed, kissing, and touching each other, sort of like when he had kept me here before, but now there was more passion to it, and he had been right about scent. The scent of a person's sweat, combined with whatever aftershave, or shampoo they were using were beautiful with my heightened Strigoi senses. Just as we started to kiss again, one of the runners, people who did work like delivering messages, packages, and supplies through the house, came in. He looked agitated, and there was a tone of annoyance in his voice as he said, "Lady Hathaway, you are needed with the prisoners, there is a lot of commotion coming from their room." Very irritated that I had to go, I turned to Dimitri, gave him a quick kiss and a smile and said, "We'll continue later, my love." He gave me a smile as I left the room. As I approached the room, I heard a banging noise coming from inside, so I rushed up the stairs. Instead of the ceremonial robes I wore the first time I visited, I was wearing a set of custom tailored pants and a custom tailored jacket, they fit just right and allowed me to move quickly and smoothly. I had Mest' **(I'm reffering to her Katana as "Mest'" from now on)** with me again, and it was in it's sheath **(The proper term for sheath I believe is "Scabbard")** on my back. It now had my new personal mantra written on it, "Death can be fast or slow, you always decide." When I got to the door, there was another man on guard, and he knew I wanted in because of the noise. I put the code in the door, he followed me and closed the other door behind him. When I opened the other door and walked in, I was hit in the face by a piece of wood, and I knew with a quick glance that Christian had thrown it. I had heard Christian and Lissa arguing about what they should do on my way in. Adrian, for once, had been trying to calm them down. They were all quiet now, and I was pretty sure they were genuinely scared of me. I turned to the guard and whispered, "Watch the doors. I'm going to interrogate the Dragomir." He complied and when I told Lissa to go to the bedroom, she refused. Not having any patience since this had ruined my time with Dimitri, I pushed Christian out of the way, grabbed Lissa by the hair, and dragged her into the room, slamming the door behind me. When I let her go, she was crying, and now more than ever, people crying annoyed the hell out of me. I looked her straight in the eyes and said, "Lissa, you have got to stop crying and just tell me who else knew you were coming here, I need to know if they knew where this house is too." I knew the compulsion was working, because she immediately stopped crying, and started to say, "Y-ye-yes, the q-qu-queen knew. I had a really h-har-hard time convincing her to let me leave court." Shit. This was going to be bad. Knowing the queen, she was probably already assembling an army of guardians to head over here to take back Lissa. Knowing them, they would attack during the day, and that would be very bad for us. I got up and said to Lissa, in what I hoped, was the most hateful voice I could, "Thanks for the info, my dear Vasilisa. Looks like we'll have to roll out the welcome mat for your friends when they come." She now looked absolutely terrified, and shocked that I had used compulsion on her like that. As I went to leave, I exited the bedroom to find the guard asleep on the flood. I drew Mest' and exited, only to be hit by a ball of fire. When I turned, I saw Christian had been hiding in the bathroom waiting for me. I put a sinister smile on my face, I remembered something. I knew it was time to kill Christian, but first, I had to concentrate. I had learned a special concentration technique that allowed me to focus some of my magic on the sword. The result? When I stabbed a Moroi or Dhampir with it, their life force was sucked into the sword, strengthening me, and killing them instantly, while leaving the power in their blood. This was great for me, because I could take a large amount of energy from a dead Moroi and still keep their blood there so that Dimitri, Galina, or some Marauder could gain strength from it. I focused myself on the sword, ran up and stabbed Christian through the heart. He stared, wide eyed in shock, and I closed my eyes as his life force was corrupted by the sword and fed into me. After a few seconds, I opened my eyes, withdrew the sword, and returned it to it's sheath. I picked up Christian and threw him over my shoulder. As I left the room, I saw Lissa standing in the doorway too shocked and horrified to say anything. Adrian, thankfully, was passed out on the couch. I keyed the door, and dragged the knocked out guard through it. As I did, I looked at Lissa and said in a clear voice that woke Adrian up, "So sorry guys, but it looks like Christian couldn't hold it back. Now one of you will have to suffer for his choice. Oh well, deal with that later. Remember you two, Predator, or Prey." I knew that last quote would shake them up a bit. I used to say it all the time when I was at the academy. As I returned to Dimitri, stopping by the barracks on the way to drop off the guard, I was thankful Galina didn't know about my new sword ability, within a few weeks, I would become easily as powerful as her, then, I would strike her down with the sword, and take her place.

***Marauder is the term I am using to refer to Strigoi Foot Soldiers.**


	12. Chapter Eleven: Planning a Defense

**Disclaimer: I own what I write, nothing else.**

**I will be slowing down my writing to a chapter a day during the week, as I am in school, and I have a pain in the ass math teacher. (I have been releasing chapters in pairs.)**

**I have noticed that more people are reviewing, that is awesome, as it is the only thing that keeps me writing! Well, it makes me start a new chapter, the music in my ears actually keeps me writing.....ha ha. :)**

**I have already been thinking ahead to the end of the story, maybe around chapter Eighteen to Twenty. I am thinking of writing a sequel in a new character's POV. If you have any suggestions for the sequel, or the ending of this story, drop them in my inbox. (E-Mail is in my profile) Provide your site username, because if I use any of your ideas, I will be sure to credit you! Remember though, no endings involving Dimitri and Rose being turned back and living happily ever after, as I wrote this story against that ideology. I may do a happier story later on though. It will probably involve another plot hook I really didn't like in the story.**

**Anyway, sorry for all of the ranting before my chapters, and hope you like this one!**

**P.S. - Chapters Eleven and Twelve HAVE NOT been beta read. I couldn't contact Mark for it, and any spelling mistakes are accidents. Please forgive me. PLEASE! :(  
**

**Eleven - Planning a Defense**

When I left the barracks with Christian's lifeless corpse draped over my shoulder, I figured I should head for what Galina was using for her throne room. It was a room in the center of the top floor, and if guardians attacked us, it may have seemed like an obvious spot for something important. It wasn't literally important, everything that was of any real use was in one of the three basement levels the mansion had. There were actually a number of security systems around the house, all of which were controlled from there. As I entered the throne room, Galina was sitting but instead of reading a book, like she usually did, she was talking to Dimitri, who was down on one knee. When I had entered the room, Galina ignored me and continued talking to Dimitri, and I knew not to bother her. Eventually, Dimitri stood up and cracked a joke in Russian, damn I have got to learn Russian some day. (The name of my sword had been translated by Dimitri for me.) The two of them chuckled for a moment and then turned to me. I didn't salute, as I was carrying a corpse, but I did greet. "Greetings, Queen Irastov. Lady Rosemarie Hathaway, and I come bearing a gift." I dropped the corpse on the floor, and her I knew I had to explain myself, "He attempted to attack me with his magic while I was there getting information from Lissa, and I figured I wasn't going to give him more than one chance. Besides, he wasted his chance to awaken over a week ago." Dimitri looked like he agreed with me, but Galina was good at hiding her emotions. "Well, I have to agree with you," she said after some time, "he was just going to be trouble anyway. You said you were there for information?" "Yes, I used my compulsion to make her reveal that the Moroi Queen knew exactly where she was going, and I believe they will assault this house to get her back." "Well, this is troublesome." Galina genuinely looked frustrated, like she hadn't expected this. "But, nonetheless, we have enough power to crush whatever force they send. It would take over a hundred guardians with inside and outside knowledge of this house over two weeks to plan an effective attack. And they would never spare that many guardians for a rescue mission. Knowing guardian protocol, I would guess they will send about 35-40 guardians if they can spare them, as well as a few fire using Moroi, but they are useless, our Mauraders are trained to ignore their distracting spells, and you and the others with dark magic experience could slaughter half of them yourselves." Dimitri looked like he agreed, and so did I. "But just to be safe, My Queen, perhaps you should relocate to the sub-levels of the estate, until the danger is gone." She began to smile, and in her eyes I saw a glint of anticipation, "No. I will help lead this battle, and we with two well known former guardians and a former prodigy fighting, their morale will be at an all time low. If they attack this place, we will stand strong, and prove to them that you should stand and fight, not run and cower." Galina turned to Christian's corpse, and sighed, "Do you think we should drink before it gets cold and goes to waste?" Dimitri was quick to respond, "Yea, sounds like a good idea, Rose should probably have the first drink, since she is still gaining strength." I shook my head politely, "No. You two go ahead, I have had my fill of rich blood from those houses we hit during our 'Recruitment Drive'." "Well, I suppose I will then." Dimitri finished his sentence and turned to drink, I left and returned to the room Dimitri and I shared and undressed from my uniform. I decided to just lay there in bed for a while and maybe read a book. So I took one of the old novels I kept in the nightstand on my side of the bed, flipped it open, and started reading. Eventually, Dimitri returned and joined me, taking one of his own novels, he undressed down to his underclothing and just lay there with me, reading. Eventually, I inserted a bookmark to save my place, rolled over and climbed on top of Dimitri saying "Now. Where were we earlier?", I said with a smile on my face. He put his book on the stand, wrapped his arms around me and embraced me again, kissing very passionately. We got closer and closer and finally did it for the first time since that night in the cabin. It was amazing yet again, and after we finished, we started to talk. But it wasn't about anything a normal person would imagine as romantic. We were discussing how we would kill Galina, and what we would do with her corpse when we did it.


	13. Chapter Twelve: Rescue Operations

**I Apologize for posting Chapter Thirteen as Chapter Twelve. It was my mistake.**

**Disclaimer: I am NOT putting the disclaimer AGAIN! Go back and read it from a previous chapter. What can I say, I am too lazy to copy and paste, but not lazy enough to type this.**

**Again, this chapter HAS NOT been Beta Read, grammar errors are due to communications breakdowns between me and my Beta Reader today. Forgive me.**

**Twelve - Rescue Operations**

After being prepared for over a week, we started to think that the guardians weren't coming for Lissa. But then one night, night for us day for everyone else, cameras on the edge of the estate spotted three vans stop outside the main gate. About two to three dozen guardians and a dozen Moroi got out of the vans. They started a steady march up the driveway, and we wondered if we knew they were coming. Of course we couldn't go outside and attack first, we could easily trap them when they came inside. They decided to scout for other entrances before actually coming in. And they split their team, Sending about 3/4 of them in front and hoping to send the rest in back for a sneak attack. This was their first mistake. We figured that they would leave several lookouts outside the doors to cover their exit. They didn't. They probably thought that they would have an easy time since we couldn't go outside, this was their second mistake. It allowed us to trap the entire team when they entered. I was dealing with the rear entry team, Dimitri and Galina were leading against the front entry team. I was wearing another of the many custom tailored items we had here for battle use. This was a form fitting kevlar cushioned suit that protected against high impact, not that I needed it. With my enhanced strength and speed, I could match a guardian's speed in this suit, except I could take much more punishment. The suit was mostly black, with some forest green mixed in. I was also wearing a cloak that hung around my kneck by a chain, it had a hood that covered my pinned up hair. Finally, I was wearing the mask I had used when Lissa had first arrived. It had been re-shaped and re-painted into a fearsome looking work of art. It reflected my strength and power in our great army. The mask had a microphone/earpiece built in communication with Galina and Dimitri, and I could use it to tap into the nearby speaker system. As the Guardians entered through the back door, they were being quiet, trying not to attract attention, when the Moroi followed them, I knew this would be a great victory. The guardians had brought about eight of their twelve Moroi with them. I had six other Mauraders with me, all trained to sneak so well that they could qualifty as ninjas. When the doors opened, they moved to ambush posistions. They would quickly dash in, shut and lock the doors, and dash out within a minute. This would trap them and allow me to deliver an ultimatum; surrender, or die. When the doors were shut, they spun around, a few of the Moroi tried to light them up, but failed due to their fireproof uniforms. When the Stalkers, as I liked to call them, just stood there unaffected by the fire, one of the guardians dashed over. He attempted to put one of them in a headlock, only to have his neck snapped when the Stalker turned around. They then dashed to opposite sides of the room, and hid in the shadows. I moved forward so that the guardians and their charges saw me Knowing I was now linked to the speakers in this room, and shouted, "Attention, brave guardians, and foolish Moroi, you are being given one chance to surrender, and I pray for your souls that you take it. If you do not surrender and drop your weapoons, I will personally cut each and every one of your heads off. You have 30 seconds to comply." The guardians stood their ground. and one of them who I recognized as none other than my mother shouted, "You don't have the power to kill seven guardians and eight Moroi by yourself. You would be slaughtered." I don't think any of them actually knew who I was, because my voice had changed to some extent when I was awakened. I laughed a with cold, hate filled tone and shouted back, "I think you should pay more attention to my voice, Guardian Hathaway." She looked shocked and confused, "Wait, how in the hell do you know who I am? And why should I know-", she stopped dead. She understood now, and I knew as soon as she said it, guardian morale would drop, because I recognized several of them as ones from the royal court, they knew me. The Moroi were mostly non-royals, obviously, but they worked at court, and they knew me too. "No. Rose, how could this have happened?", my mother was whispering in a small, shaking voice, but everyone heard her. "Rose. As in Rosemarie Hathaway? As in your daughter!", one of the guardians, probably the team leader, was shouting now. I lowered my hood, and removed the mask. There was a collective gasp as they saw me. I saw a mixture of feelings, some scared, some furious, some just plain in denile. I heard a voice from the mask and held it to my face, "Rose here, what did you need?" Dimitri replied, "Rose," he was laughing between breaths, "The battle was intense, we fought hard, and lost very few of our people. We also have a very interesting dhampir here. He turned on his comrades when the battle started. Now he wants to meet you." "Understood, I will be there when I deal with these vermin." I removed the mask again and smiled, "Your friends out front have been slaughtered. Unless you want to suffer the same fate. Drop. Your. Weapons." I put as much force into those words as possible. They stood their ground, and I finally said, "If you have a death wish, I will honor it." I looked at the Moroi who was furthest back, and as I worked my magic, she looked stunned for a second, then lit up several of the guardians like a bonfire. I looked to another guardian, and he turned and snapped the necks of several Moroi. They both looked horrified, then collapsed to the floor from shock. I started laughing very loudly when the rest of the guardians dropped their weapons and fell to their knees. I descended the stairwell, and three stalkers rushed in on each side of me. "Remove the bodies, and lead the living guardians to the top of the stairs. Leave the living Moroi here." After a few moments, the living Moroi where in front of me at the bottom of the stairwell, and I spoke to the guardians at the top of the stairs behind me, "These fools, as well as you all could have died pleasantly, in a haze of ecstacy, but now, you will die....in the fashion which I perfer." I unsheathed Mest' and proceeded to stab every Moroi with superhuman speed and percision. When I sheathed the katana, I turned to see horrified faces on the guardians, they couldn't believe that a former one of their own would be so sadistic. Then I laughed and said, "Actually, you will die in more pain then that.", I singled out the guardian that had yelled at my mother during the fight, I snapped my fingers and he lit up like a bonfire. "The rest of you, will die in ecstacy." I smiled and told the Stalkers to lead the guardians away and come back for the bodies. I took two of the corpses, and headed for the throne room.


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Under New Managment

**Disclaimer: I am NOT putting the disclaimer AGAIN! Go back and read it from a previous chapter. What can I say, I am too lazy to copy and paste, but not lazy enough to type this.**

**This chapter introduces us to our new character! I hope you all like him!**

**Again, this chapter HAS NOT been Beta Read, grammar errors are due to communications breakdowns between me and my Beta Reader today. Forgive me.  
**

**Thirteen - Under New Management  
**

When I reached the throne room, I entered expecting to see Galina, sitting in the throne. Instead, I saw Dimitri, and he was talking to a well tanned dhampir I didn't know. When I reached them, I set the two Moroi corpses on the floor, by which I mean I threw them. I then turned to Dimitri, "Where is Galina, did she finally head to the sub-levels?" "No.", Dimitri looked amused and satisfied, "She was killed during the fight. And by killed, I mean this guy here staked her for me.", he motioned toward the dhampir, who had his eyes shut. I looked him over and noticed he was thinner than most dhampirs, this guy didn't look like he ate much. I knew this was the guy who had turned on his allies in the battle. I decided to speak to him, "You are really thin for a dhampir, what do you eat." He opened his eyelids to reveal eyes that weren't just ringed in red, they were like rubys. He also spoke in an accent I couldn't identify, "Non-Royals and humans, mostly. Sometimes I take the corpses of fallen guardians." He had a sadisitic smile on his face, and I asked him, "Okay. What in the hell are you?" "Dhampir.", he replied in a low, mysterious voice. "You drink the blood of others, you are no dhampir.", I replied. He smiled, "Oh, I am a dhampir, but I carry no Moroi blood. I carry the blood of your kind." I stared in shock, how could this have happened? "How were you made, I mean I don't understand how that could happen." His smile somehow grew even larger, "When I was awakened, the idiot who did it failed to drain all of my blood, I when I was given his Strigoi blood, it burned away the Moroi blood in my body, but left the human blood intact. I kept my resistance to sunlight, but gained the increased strength and speed, as well as the fangs. And I don't just drink the blood of victims." I was shocked, this guy was a half Strigoi half human dhampir, not only that, but he was canabilistic!. "It isn't as disgusting as you would think. I actually enjoy the taste. I've also learned that I can eat normal food. Plus, eating the flesh of others gives me more of their strength than just drinking the blood." I had no idea what to say, this guy was superior to me and Dimitri in many ways, but as I soon learned, we could do things he couldn't. "I can barely use compulsion at all, and I don't have the sort of endurance you do, so I can't run for very long. I also have no access to the black magic you can use." "Well, what should we do with him Dimitri?" Dimitri had been quiet thusfar, and was thinking of something, probably a plan of sorts. "Well, he knows how to make others like him, why don't we make ourselves some spies and assassins, we could use some insight into the royal court, that way we will have an advantage for an attack." I thought about this, and decided that it was the best plan. "Well, we have lost our queen Rose, why don't you take her place, and give our new friend here your old place?" I was shocked yet again, I had no intention of giving up my posistion as field commander for our troops. "I would be glad to take Galina's posistion, but perhaps he should take a different posistion, maybe we can make one for him? Such as commander of the new Royal Guard?" He smiled at those words, and I was guessing he hadn't expected a posistion as commander of anything. "It would be my honor to serve and protect you, my new Queen, and may I say that your taste in fighting style. Is excellent." He nodded to Mest', which was on my back. I smiled, "Well, perhaps we should have a ceremony for this. By the way, what is your name?" He smiled, "Sarojev Sivrisko, you can call me Saro for short." "Very interesting name, although I must ask, where are you from?" "Belgrade, in Serbia. Although I have no clue where my parents are from. My mother died when I was young, and I never knew my father.", he spoke in an unregretful tone, it was cold and he obviously didn't care for his family. "Well, I believe an appointment is in order.", I spoke in a slow tone as I unsheathed Mest' and Saro lowered himself to one knee. I tapped his head, then each shoulder and spoke, "Sarojev Sivrisko, I now appoint you to the newly created posistion as Commandant of the Strigoi Royal Guard, with all the responsibilties that go with it. you may use the title of Commandant in service, if you wish." He stood, and reached out with one hand, I took it with my gloved hand and shook it, "I am looking forward to serving under you, my queen, and may I say I am anticipating the day when we finally crush the foolish Moroi royalty." I smiled, I knew he would be loyal till the day he died, and I hoped that, for his sake, he was as effective in combat as everyone else here was.


	15. New Story Coming

**New Story Coming!**

I have begun creating my next story, and I think you may like it. I won't give out much about it yet, but I will say it is about a forgotten Royal Family, one every other Royal Family tried for many years to make everyone forget about. I will start writing soon, hopefully though, I will finish New Beginnings before I start this one. Progress will slow for a bit as I have a few very important things to deal with.

**Thanks to all of you who read and review my story! :)**

** -Nueemann**


	16. Chapter Fourteen: An Ambitious Plan

**I'm almost finished actually writing the story, and I hope the ending is alright, and I am almost ready to start writing the sequel, which I will write alongside my next story.**

**The Disclaimer stands.**

**This chapter has not been Beta Read, spelling I apologize for spelling and grammar errors.**

**Thanks for reading, remember to Review and Comment!  
**

**Chapter Fourteen - An Ambitious Plan**

Some time had passed since the Guardian's failed rescue operation, I believe it was two or three weeks. Lissa and Adrian were still being held, and I had to visit them just to make sure they were still alive. Over time, we decided to keep our army small to avoid food problems, although Sarojev had used his modified awakening process to gain several spies within the Royal Court back in Pennsylvania. We soon learned that the Queen, a truly idiotic Ivashkov named Tatiana had to some extent given up on finding Lissa. She knew Lissa and Adrian had come to try and bring me back, and suspected I was to blame. I realized that she was now focused on figuring out how big a group of Strigoi were living and working together. I was amused by this fact, she had no clue we had a group large enough in power and strength to take on the Guardian Council. I knew the only way to truly win this war was to somehow raid the Royal Court and find records of where royal families were living, that way, we could eliminate the Moroi and Dhampir leadership in one stroke, and quickly take several other prominent people out. I also realized that I would have to take care of Lissa and Adrian in order to move safely. I had a meeting with Dimitri and Commandant Sivrisko on what our next move should be, so I brought it up then. "We need to take the Royal Court.", I said it casually, but Dimitri and the Commandant looked shocked, both of them yelled "What?" at the same time. "It could cripple Moroi and Guardian leadership, and give us locations to other prominent Moroi homes. We need to find a way to do it." Dimitri and Saro were now considering the plan, and I knew I had to keep pushing it to them. "If we managed to pull this off, it would essentially win our war in one swift blow! Think about it, you both know I'm right." I could see the indecision on their faces, and finally Dimitri spoke, "I believe you are right Rose. We should at least begin planning this ambitious attack. I will devote every resource you could possibly need to it. I think we will need a staging ground though, somewhere near the Royal Court, preferrably." Saro smiled at that, "I believe that I have a solution to that. A few friends of mine own some property in the area, it is shared by Strigoi and Humans, much like this house is. There are three or four Strigoi and some humans who mostly run errands for them. I recently informed them of our upcoming decleration of war, and they revealed that they actually had a series of tunnels that ran underground all the way to the Court's outer borders. They can dig up and make a fair sized entrance that the guardians will never notice, it will be right outside the wards." I was amazed, but Dimitri kept his serious face on. "What you are saying is that we take a group of Mauraders over there, set a date, enter the tunnels, wait for nightfall, then stake the wards and attack?" He knew as well as I did that Dimitri agreed almost entirely with this plan, his face just plain said it. "We can retreat into the tunnels and back to the houses until nightfall, then fly back over here." Dimitri didn't respond for a few minutes, he leaned back in his chair, and I said in my usual voice, "It's simple. It's efficient. It will be brutal. This attack will greatly scare the Moroi, turn them into children." Dimitri spoke up in an amused tone, "And people who act like children out of fear always make mistakes. We will do this within two months, but before we act, Rose needs to deal with our two prisoners upstairs. Give them the choice to awaken, we could always use someone with great knowledge about the court." I already thought of this, and my answer was obvious, "I don't think they would. They would resist the temptation, like I tried to when you took me." Dimitri smiled and chuckled at that, "I don't think it will be a problem, if they refuse, give them twenty-four hours to think some more, then begin torturing them for information. We need to kill or awaken them, but their knowledge will NOT be wasted, understood?" Me and Saro both said "Yes" at the same time, but he added in, "Your wish is my command." He then stood, turned military style on his heel, and exited the room.

I looked at Dimitri, a hungry smile on his face, "So, my sweet Rose, what do you want to do tonight, after all, we don't need to sleep." I smiled and remembered the old days, if we had made love then, we would have slept and left ourselves vunerable, open to attack. Not anymore though. We went to our bedroom, and as we lay in bed, we discussed many of the myths surrounding us. I knew that many people said Strigoi would almost never work together, even I used to think that, but now I knew that only the truly power hungry fought each other. Of course me and Dimitri had wanted to kill Galina, but she never would have approved of this, she would have limited our army to a group of petty thugs, but we now had honor in our duty. At the core of it all, we banded together for one simple purpose: the challenge of fighting Guardians. Of course, many people believed that we only attacked them for Moroi blood, this was a lie as well. We wanted the honor and prestige of slaying guardians, the Moroi blood was just an amazing bonus. We could live our whole lives only attacking a group of Moroi every two or three years, but the Strigoi who were awakened nowadays let their bloodlust blind them and get the best of them, and I swore that as long as I lived, I would never let that happen to me or Dimitri. We also worked together for another purpose, we wanted the Moroi to stop allowing stupid leaders to rule over them. They always allowed old royals, blind to everything important, to rule them. I realized that if they had allowed someone like Victor Dashkov to rule them, they would have started and ended this war a long time ago. But now, they would regret the choice clinging to their stupid traditions. As Dimitri began to remove my clothing and we embraced each other, I asked him, "Do you think the Moroi will ever change their stubborn ways?" His response was a simple "No, their traditions are enforced and backed by a long line of foolish "Royals" that they always considered "Sucessful" leaders. If they change, it will only be for the worse."


	17. Chapter Fifteen: Choices, Choices

**I have actually finished writing New Beginnings, save for the Epilogue.**

**I will be writing a sequel, but I want to start writing my new story first. So look for that.**

**For anyone who cares, I am on Twitter now, /nueemann.**

**Disclaimer stands, and I hope you all enjoy the ending, yes it is a cliffhanger of sorts, since I am writing a sequel.  
**

**Chapter Fifteen - Choices, Choices...**

After the meeting, Dimitri told me to go inform Lissa and Adrian of their options, so I went up to visit them. I wasn't wearing formal or ceremonial clothing, just jeans, a t-shirt, jacket, and normal shoes. As I approached the room, I unlocked the door, and left the guard outside. When I entered, Adrian and Lissa were on the couch, she was upset but not crying, and he was obviously trying to comfort her. In an intimidating tone, I spoke loud and clearly, "Oh god. Are you still grieving over Christian! It was a few weeks ago! He is gone, and there is nothing you can do about it, if it makes you feel any better though, his spirit is part of me now." I knew that would upset her more, and this obviously annoyed Adrian to some extent. That was good, as I was going to try and convince Adrian to shut her up, and by shut her up, I mean awaken himself. "Look, the Council has agreed, you two have two options, and twenty four hours to decide which one you will choose." The "Council" was basically myself, Dimitri, Commandant Sivrisko, and a few other high ranking Strigoi, mostly serving under Saro. "Option One, one of you kills the other one and is awakened. Option Two, you are both decapitated, drained of blood, and have your bodies shipped in _pieces_ back to the royal court." Lissa had stopped sobbing now, and Adrian had stopped talking to her, they both sat there, absolutely horrified of their options. They knew I wouldn't hesitate to do the second option myself, as I had killed Christian without remorse, and he used to be a fair friend to me. "Make your choices by tomorrow, because Dimitri will be coming to take them. And he really has not been patient lately, what with our state of affairs." As I turned to leave, Lissa stood up, turned to me and started shouting, "Rose, what happened to you! You used to be one of the most caring people I knew! You are only acting so evil because of what you have become. Dimitri tricked you into this, but you still have hope. Take me and Adrian back to court, we will try and find a way to turn you back! If not, we will make sure you aren't harmed in any way." That was outrageous, and I started laughing really hard. It was a cold and hateful laugh, and I managed to say through it, "You think I was _tricked_ into this! It was MY choice, and if I hadn't been awakened, you would have driven me into insanity with your spirit use! I would have become worse than this! And you know more than anyone that nobody respected me in my entire life except for you, Adrian, Christian, and Dimitri. Christian is dead, get over it. You and Adrian are worthless to me and Dimitri. The death of Tatiana and the Council will be the beginning of the end for your foolish race. The royals, at least, we won't bother the non-royals, they have no guardians and never did anything to us." Lissa was no longer horrified, she was confused, "So what, all you guys care about are killing guardians? And do you really think you can kill every royal family! It would take at least a century for you to hunt everyone down!" I chuckled, "Well, first off, we fight the royals because they think they are more powerful then everyone else, yet they hide behind their guardians, and fighting guardians is what we desire, not killing them. Our army lives for the battle, not the blood. As for taking a century to kill you all, I certainly have that long, in fact, I can spend however long I want doing it." I turned and started to walk out, as I entered the hallway seperating doors, I turned and made one final statement, "Twenty-Four hours, guys. That's all you get." I left and laughed as I left the room. I knew that they would refuse, and I was happy for it. I was looking forward to killing the last remaining Dragomir descendant.

**What do you think Adrian and Lissa will choose?**

**Will one of them be awakened? Or will they both die?**

**Find out in Chapter Sixteen, coming tomorrow!  
**


	18. Chapter Sixteen: Wait, What!

**I decided to post the rest of New Beginnings tonight!**

**Hope you enjoy! Disclaimer Stands.  
**

**Chapter Sixteen - Wait, What!?!?**

Over the next day, Dimitri and I continued to arrange things for our attack. Saro's spies said that everything was continuing as normal at the court, and we needed that. They said the queen was considering moving her court to a castle in Romania somewhere, but I knew they would stay right where they were. Dimitri had decided to go and deliver the options to Lissa and Adrian, but he wanted me with him. I wanted Saro to come with us, but he said we couldn't take him because it would interfere with his new plan. As we entered the room, we saw Lissa and Adrian sitting on the couch, discussing something I had no idea about. As I shut the door, Dimitri approached, and they both ignored him. I wasn't suprised by this, and as he spoke, they both found it hard to look at him. "Adrian, Lissa, I have decided to ignore the advice of those around me and release you." Adrian and Lissa, as well as myself, were both clearly shocked, "What do you mean, realease us?" Lissa was suspicious, and her voice and face clearly showed it. "Released, as in returned to the Royal Court. However, there is a catch. Only one of you will go. And you will decide which one goes."

I was now beginning to understand to some extent, he knew that this would hurt them much more then simply killing them. "No. If you aren't going to let us both go, just kill us, we won't make the choice.", Adrian was obviously frustrated. Dimitri smiled, "Fine then, if you want to die that badly.", he turned to me and snapped his fingers, I knew what he wanted me to do. As I approached him, a look of terror appeared on his face, and he whispered softly to me, "Please, Rose, don't do this." I smiled and said back in a soft, cold voice, "You have to die so that she lives. Besides, the Ivashkov clan is huge, no one will miss you." I reached out, grabbed his head, and snapped his neck with a satisfying crack. He fell to the floor, and Lissa screamed and began to cry, I picked up Adrian's corpse, and went to leave, "You will be taken into Novosibrisk tomorrow, we will inform the Royals of where to find you.", Dimitri spoke in an angered tone as he left with me. When we left the room, I spoke to him, "I understand now, you want her to return and spread word of what happened to the Guardians they sent, you want them to become terrified of us." He smiled, "Yes. I want to cripple their morale before we attack. Even if they stand strong, they will still fall to us. It is only a matter of time."


	19. Chapter Seventeen: Lissa's Return

**I decided to post the rest of New Beginnings tonight!**

**Hope you enjoy! Disclaimer Stands.**

**Chapter Seventeen - Lissa's Return**

**This chapter will be in Lissa's POV. Rose, Dimitri, and Saro are on their way to the Royal Court. The Attack will be the next chapter.**

As I passed through the wards that protected the Royal Court, I felt safer to some very small extent. I knew that I was going to have a lot to awnswer to, since I was the only one of over 50 guardians and 8 Moroi to go over there and return alive. I was escorted to a room in guest housing and told I would be staying there for a few weeks before I arrangments for school would be made. I accepted a cup or two of tea offered by the servents, normally I wouldn't touch the stuff, but I needed something to calm myself down. I whispered to myself between sips of tea, "It wasn't your fault Lissa, if you went over there with her, you would be just like her. That wasn't really Rose." I began to cry, and almost immediatly after I started, I heard the door open and stopped. One of the servants I had seen earlier walked in and said in a soft, soothing tone, "The queen wishes to speak to you, please come with me." I finished the tea and put the cup on a nearby table as I walked out with the servant. We walked in scilence to the parlor where the queen liked to speak with guests, as I entered, I knew this was no ordinary meeting. First, there were only two guardians, as opposed to the usual six or seven. Second, the Queen's friend and advisor, Priscilla Voda, was not there, and she was almost always with the Queen. As I sat down, the servant exited, and the Queen looked at me and asked, "I need to know what happened to the large number of guardians and Moroi that I sent first to protect you, then to find you. I also need to know where my great nephew is, since he was with you."

I almost began to sob again, I was an emotional mess. She hadn't mentioned Christian, and I wasn't suprised, since she didn't care at all about him. "Your Majesty, it was Guardian Belikov and Rose, they are both Strigoi, and they have a fairly large army following them, almost all former guardians." The queen looked shocked for less then a second, then asked, "What of my nephew and the young Ozera boy?" I was suprised that she asked, "Christian was killed a few days after we arrived, he tried to kill Rose with his magic, she was somehow immune to it, and then she impaled him through the heart with a sword. Adrian died only yesterday, Dimitri said he would only release one of us, and Adiran told him to release or kill both of us. Dimitri took this to mean Adiran would sacrifice himself, so Rose killed him. I don't know why they let me go, but I know that they are deffinetly a threat." "Hmm, this would explain the attacks on families living in Siberia, they must have been taking guardians for conversion and killing the Moroi for food. I agree that they are a threat, but we cannot do anything else, we have lost too many guardians. But if we can draw anything good, it is that you are safe again." I thought back to the conversations I had with Adrian before he had been killed, how we though that we might have found a way to turn both of them back. But now it was hopeless, or was it. Just as the Queen was dismissing me, I spoke up, "Your Majesty, if I may, I might have a way to turn both Rose and Dimitri back, as well as many of the other Guardians they have taken." The Queen looked suprised, and I think I saw a glint of hope in her eyes, "Well by all means Princess, elighten me." I began to have hope that we could fix all of this, and as the Queen listened to me she began to understand that maybe we could solve this problem. Question is, can we do it before they come for me...


	20. Chapter Eighteen: The Attack

**I decided to post the rest of New Beginnings tonight!**

**Hope you enjoy! Disclaimer Stands.**

**I have decided to keep a little bit of Adirian alive in the story, and it's sequel, and I hope you approve of this little personality adjustment for Rose...**

**Chapter Eighteen - The Attack**

I had been anticipating this attack since we had concieved it. We had left Novosibrisk about a week ago, it took a while to get to the US, since travel for us was restricted to nighttime. By planning everything carefully, and using seperate flights, we had managed to get 75 Mauraders and 10 members of the Royal Guard into the US. We mostly used jets that were registered to the company Galina owned, but when we left London for Philedalphia, we took public jets. The cost was enormous, but it was worth it. We had assembled at the small farm owned by the Strigoi Saro knew. They lived quite peacefully, despite being a distance from civilization, they had managed to live very peacefully. We didn't worry much for blood, since we could survive up to two without it, and didn't start to weaken until roughly a week and a half without it. Luckily, we had all fed very well before leaving, and I was only worried about running out of one thing, Clove Cigarettes. Normally, I would consider it a filthy habit, but I had learned that they had little negative effects on me. Whereas a normal person would start to shake and become irritable after a while without one, I didn't. I also decided I should show some respect for Adrian, since he was nice to me before. Besides, I often had little to do in my spare time other than read, and smoking these gave me another time killer. When we were all assembled outside the farm, I let the others know that I had sent eight stalkers here to the farm ahead of time, so they could start scouting. They had been to a nearby town once or twice to feed, and were ready for the attack. At sundown, we were in the tunnels beginning our march. When we reached the exit, a human stepped to the front and opened the door a crack, when they confirmed that the sun was down, they threw a stake through the wards that protected the border, they retrieved the stake and moved back to the farm. We meanwhile, began to march, outlining the plan quickly as we went. Dimitri would take the Mauraders and head for the Guardian Council's Hall, there, they would kill the Council and anyone else they found. I would lead the stalkers through the guardians and into the Queen's structure. Once there, Saro and the Royal Guardsmen would block the entrances as we hunted down the Queen and her staff. It was decided that we the Stalkers would strike first, so that we could trap Queen Tatiana, we also decided that Dimitri and his team would burn down the guest housing and town houses to ensure that they would stay well away from this land. As me and Saro led our troops through the Guardian patrols, we stopped outside the back door of the Royal Hall. He and his men would head out front, and I would take the back. As we crept through the back door, we spotted several Moroi having a conversation, one of which I recognized as Priscilla Voda, the Queen's friend and advisor. Good, that means the Queen is very likely still here. The stalkers quickly moved in and knocked out the guardians as I took to slaughtering every Royal there. The stalkers had a quick snack and we set off through the building. We made sure to kill everyone and block the path behind us as we went. Eventually, I heard an alarm from outside and people shouting. We soon heard footsteps and quickly busted the lights and hid in the shadows.

As I saw three Guardians round' the corner, they gasped, "Oh shit. Your Majesty, turn around now! We have to go back." When the guardians backs were to us, we struck. The guardians were down in a matter of seconds, and I stepped foreward to grab the queen. We lit one of the backup candle lights so they Moroi could see us. "Well, well, well. Look what we have here." I laughed and threw the Queen against the wall. "See what your pathetic traditions have done Tatiana? They have doomed you and your foolish race. Or, the Royal part of it anyways." She started to laugh at me, and managed to say through the laughter, "You stupid Strigoi, you want to kill the Royal families? You will never kill us all. Besides, you need us to survive!" I laughed and corrected her, "No. We need Moroi blood to gain strength. Royal blood is no better then Non-Royal. In fact, your dear Nephew Adrian's blood tasted very poor compared to most of the Non-Royal blood I have had.", I chuckled, "Although the vodka in his system didn't improve the taste much." She looked appauled at what I had said, and shouted back, "You stupid lying bitch, what the hell do you know about my poor nephew. He was killed by the useless whore who was trying to have an impossible relationship with him." I smiled. Since I was wearing the mask I always wore during battles, she didn't see my face, and therefore didn't recognize me. I walked up to her and whispered into her ear in what I think was the closest I've ever sounded to my old self, "Hey, worthless whore here. I think you should watch your tounge missy, it won't help you." I heard some crashing down the hall, and decided it was likely a very good time to leave. "Grab her, we need to get out of here, and the Commandant will want to make an example of her." I removed the mask, clipped it to my belt, and pulled out the package of ciggarettes I had taken from Adrian's corpse over a week ago, they were still sealed. As we walked down the hall, I pulled the plastic off, removed one, and lit it. I drew a fairly long breath, then exhaled and blew the smoke in the Queen's direction.

She coughed and sputtered as I chuckled some more, "You should be breathing that in, I took these from Adrian's corpse. I have to say, he was more attractive dead then alive." I was trying to piss her off, but she wasn't falling for it. As we got closer to the door, we began to see a trail of corpses, all Dhampir, all Guardians. "Well, I guess your protectors weren't so well trained after all.", this time, she broke. "Would you shut up! I honestly hope you die in the most horrible manner possible for a Strigoi! You are nothing more than an abomination. You and Belikov." When we got to the front door, we saw that the Guardians knew the back doors were all sealed and had tried to attack their way out the front door; only to meet Saro and his men. They hadn't lost a single man, all eleven of them were there, and there were over thirty dead Guardians. As we approached, I saw three remaining Guardians fighting a Royal Guard, they lost within thirty seconds. We approached Saro and he reached out to shake my hand and salute, "Good to know you made it My Lady, and I have noticed you found an important prisoner." I dropped the cigarette I had and stomped it out before I replied, "Yes, I believe you will enjoy 'Taking Care' of her." He chuckled, "Yes, I will. Oh, I think you will be unhappy to hear this, Belikov was overwhelmed while the Mauraders were setting fire to several of the town houses, they burnt them to the ground, but he was taken before they noticed." I was shocked, I had lost Dimitri, again......


	21. Chapter Nineteen: Time To Run

**I decided to post the rest of New Beginnings tonight!**

**Hope you enjoy! Disclaimer Stands.**

**Chapter Nineteen - Time To Run**

I was shocked that Dimitri had been taken, but they wanted me to stay and try to get him back, and I wasn't going to fall for it. "Order a full retreat, knock her out and take her with us." "Understood.", Saro nodded as he pulled the radio from his belt, and shouted the retreat order in several languages. I slammed Tatiana's head into the wall and we took her and left. I saw most of our army running towards the tunnels where we had entered from. Several Mauraders trailed back to kill any following guardians. Within the hour, we were all back at the farm, we had covered our tracks, and we would be leaving with our prisoner within the next 48 hours. I assessed the troops while we waited. We had taken 7 casualties total, six were Mauraders who had been overwhelmed by guardians while they set fire to one of the outbuildings. Dimitri was the seventh, he had actually been restrained by six guardians and dragged off, this meant they had gone after him on purpose. I approached Saro as I lit a cigarette, "Commandant, what is the state of our people, how did they do?" He smiled, "Very well, over one hundred confirmed Guardian casualties.", the smile dissapeared, "How are you feeling, after Belikov being taken." Amazed that another Strigoi would show sympathy of any sort, I replied, "I'm fine, he died the way he wanted to, in battle. And I'm sure they haven't killed them yet, they will want to try and Reverse-Awaken him first." Saro looked shocked, and his voice showed that, "What? Reverse-Awaken? As in turn him back into a Dhampir! That is truly impossible." I smiled, "Apparently not, although it is difficult and only possible for some. When you are awakened, you soul is bound to your body, but has no control over it. The process is to return control of your body to your soul. It is difficult though, over time, the soul is corrupted by several things, Moroi blood, feeding, killing others. And the biggest one of all, Dark Magic use." He was obviously confused, "What does using Dark Magic have to do with it?" I smiled, "Dark Magic use draws power from everything positive in you body, most of the positive things in a Strigoi's body are in the trapped soul. It is like a Spirit user, except instead of me going insane and becomming depressed, my soul is corrupted. Reverse-Awakening me would just make me become insane and unstable, I would kill myself in a heartbeat." He laughed, "So they will try to turn you into your old self, and it will still kill you in the process, beautiful. Kind of ironic if you think about it." I smiled, turned around, and left the room.

The next day, we left to begin our jouney back home. It again took over a week, but eventually, we made it back to Novosibrisk. The Mauraders were looking foreward to getting back into their old routines, so was I. In Dimitri's absence, I had promoted Sarojev, and he was replacing Dimitri in every way, he understood me in more ways then I thought. The next day, mail arrived as usual, except there was a letter from an address I recognized all to well, St. Vladimir's Academy. The letter was in handwriting from two different people, first was Lissa.

_ To Rose,_

_Wherever you are. Whatever you are._

_We have found a way to turn you back to your old self._

_Dimitri is back amongst the living, and he is better then ever._

The rest of the letter was Dimitri's handwriting.

_I hope you remember my lessons Roza. We are coming for you._

_Me and Lissa. When we find you, you will be restored to life._

_Or Killed....._

_It will be your choice. Please make the right one, for our sake._

_For my sake....._

I was amused in more then one way. First, they hadn't discovered the case of Dark Magic users, and Second, they would likely know of our spies now. I would have them dealt with eventually. I looked at the letter and wondered, would I rather be turned back? I had read that the damage to the soul was only temporary, and could be healed. Would I rather live my life of immortality? No, surely life with Lissa and Dimitri would be better, wouldn't it? Then, I made my decision, if they came after me, I would kill them. They had their chance to live in glourious immortality with me.

Dimitri had blown his by getting captured.

Lissa had stuck to her stubborn priciples.

And now, they would both pay the price for it.....


	22. Chapter Twenty: Epilogue

**Here it is! Then end!**

**Thank you SO much to everyone who read and reviewed the story as I wrote it, and while I didn't get as many reviews as I really would have liked, I kept going anyway!**

**I hope you all read my next story and the sequel to this one! Both of which will be started in the next week or so.**

**Chapter Twenty: Epilogue - Starting Over...**

**Dimitri POV**

I awoke to the sound of the alarm clock blaring, and I slammed my fist into it to shut it off. As I got up, I remembered the last time I had been here. God, how long had it really been? There had been a lot of confusion when myself, Lissa, and the 15 surviving Guardians from Court had arrived at St. Vladimir's. We had several Moroi servants with us, not a single Royal had survived the attack, Rose and her people had made sure of it, and I had helped...... I would never forgive myself for what I had done, but I knew it hadn't actually been my fault. Nathan was the one truly responsible for this, and he had been killed during the fight, stupid bastard tripped and fell into one of the burning buildings. I had been returned to active service by Alberta, who was pretty much the only ruling figure I knew right now. The Queen was dead, as was her Adviser, Priscilla Voda. Essentially the entire ruling body of the Moroi Government had been killed, as well as the Guardian Council. Alberta and several other well know Guardians had been in touch, they were working on getting together an interm government, and they were making sure the Royal Families had no say in important decisions. Every time the Moroi made a decision of any sort, it ended badly. They had been wasting Guardian lives, as I had discovered, just to keep themselves alive. They didn't let us make any choices, and this had been a problem. I threw the blankets off myself, got up and headed for the bathroom. After a quick shower, I got dressed, and didn't bother using aftershave, it reminded me to much of Rose, I knew she loved the smell of it. I shook my head, what had really happened over there? I would never know, between the blows I had taken to the head and the loss of Strigoi healing, I had suffered massive memory loss of the last few months. I left the room and headed for the guardian's building, school had started again, and students were rushing across the campus trying to make it to class. Many of them remembered me from the attack I had been taken in. They thought I had died, and I could tell from their looks they were scared of me. I reached the building quickly, and entered right in the middle of a meeting.

"Ah, Belikov, nice of you to join us.", Alberta said in a pleasant tone. I saw that most of the Guardians were here, save those on patrol, as were Lissa, Headmistress Kirova, and a few other administrators. "Now, back to the disscussion, I believe that until this threat is dealt with, we should have Guardians take over administration of the school, and other similar facilites in order to better defend them." People were shocked, but Alberta kept speaking, "I don't really care about what the Moroi here think, either we take over administration until the crisis is over, or we can leave you by yourselves. After all, the Moroi are scared, and scared people make mistakes." As Alberta said that, a rush of memory came back to me. It was almost as painful as a headache, and I saw myself talking to Rose and what looked like a Dhampir I didn't know, but he had ruby red eyes. It stopped after I repeated in the memory what Alberta had just said. It looked like Kirova was about to object, then Lissa spoke up, "Headmistress, they are right. We should give them control until we are all relatively safe again. If we are in charge, it will just cause more problems. For example, if they want to shorten classes to practice lockdown drills, you will object and refuse, even though it is important. We need to think about these things more carefully." Kirova again started to protest, but held it back, instead, she nodded. "Good, we will effect this change immediately. Students will be notified after classes end today. Meeting adjourned." As people got up to leave, Alberta beckoned to me and Lissa, we stayed back to speak to her. "Now, may I please at least try and understand what happened to you two? Who was with you when this all started, and where are they now." "Well.", Lissa began, "Adrian Ivashkov and Christian were with me when I went to Russia to see Rose, she killed both of them. Tatiana was taken in the attack at court, no info on her. Priscilla Voda's body was found at the court, as was the bodies of the entire Guardian Council. We lost about a total of a hundred guardians at Court and just over 50 in Russia." Alberta sighed, "Lots of dead, every one dead is one more they may have. We need a plan, we need to go somewhere they can't follow us, or we need a new strategy." Me and Lissa looked at each other, "There is a way to turn some of them back. I can heal Strigoi and restore them to life. If you can't believe it, Dimitri is living proof." Alberta looked shocked, and as she looked me over, she noticed I still had pale skin, although it had started to tan slightly. My eyes were no longer red, and I still had fangs, although they were useless. "Well, if you can try and do it in a mass scale, we may be able to try and reverse some of this mess. But first, lets just rest, or try to anyways. After all, they are going to come for us some time. We need to be ready."

**There it is, hope you all enjoyed it! Please review and let me know by e-mail (Check Profile) if there is anything you would love to see in the sequel!**


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